


a jedi, a sith, and a grey walk into a bar

by flibbityflob



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24343051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbityflob/pseuds/flibbityflob
Summary: or, edelgard just wants to go home. it's not her fault her master fell to the dark side, and it's not her fault she's been in love with her master for a decade and a half. she doesn't want to duel anyone, she just wants to help a friend and find a nice spot to meditatesith!byleth, grey jedi!edelgard, jedi!ingrid, somewhere in the aftermath of order 66
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Edelgard von Hresvelg
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	a jedi, a sith, and a grey walk into a bar

**Author's Note:**

> I love star wars more than maybe anything else, ever. the notes at the end of the chapter are more just vague ramblings and musings based around my love of this franchise

When Edelgard had abandoned the Jedi Order to forge her own path, she had abandoned a great many of the trappings of the order. Yet her mornings started in the exact same way as they had for her whole life. She awoke with what her ship's computer (Hubert, it had told her, when she’d stolen it from a group of slavers) told her was the dawn, and she meditated for an hour. The Living Force ran through her, and it guided her beliefs. There was no light side, no dark side, there was only the force. For almost a decade, as a Padawan, as a Knight, she had struggled with the Order’s teachings. The Living Force brought her freedom, and it brought her peace. When Order 66 had come, it was her meditative exile in the Outer Rim that had saved her life.

But she also missed her few living friends from the order, and when she’d received a request for aid from Ingrid, who was looking for a partner who’d care little for more underhand negotiation tactics, she was more than happy to help. Even better, the message had said, was someone who’d perform that negotiation for her, whilst she investigated a prison. She hadn’t yet said who was imprisoned, but given the bonds between Padawans, it was someone important to the both of them. So here she was, back on the damned planet of Coruscant, where everything was clean, and commercial, and there wasn’t a damned tree to be seen for miles. She liked the Outer Rim, the peace and the quiet and the complete lack of people. She was going to kill Ingrid, that kriffing idiot, for making her lurk around the Outlander Club. 

She’d lurked around the Outer Rim for almost nine years, watched the Jedi Order fall around her, desperately tried to contact her Padawan family, and had lived off of some kind of heinous mixture of bug and swamp water on Dagobah, yet this was possibly the most uncomfortable she’d ever been. A familiar sensation crept up behind her, a force signature familiar in its comfort to her, and she smiled. The signature drew closer to her, and she turned, and met eyes of flaming red and yellow.

“Hello, my Padawan. It’s certainly been a long time, hasn’t it.” Byleth, her master’s voice, her old friend and beloved master. Her face was like iron, unfeeling and unflinching, it reminded her of how her master had been when she’d first arrived at the Jedi Temple. She tried to steel her expression, her hand moving to her lightsaber, but Byleth’s own hand stopped her. “Oh no, my Padawan. None of that. Master Rhea doesn’t know you’re here, but Coruscant is full of inquisitors. That is to say, I brought them here. Don’t go causing a commotion.”

“Master Byleth.” She swallowed, and tried to find Ingrid’s familiar signature across the crowd, through the almost overwhelming sensation of her Master’s. Byleth was not as Edelgard remembered her. She had known Byleth’s prescence as clearly as her own, once, and now it was distorted, unfamiliar, seething with hatred and for the first time, she truly understood what the Council had meant by the Dark Side.

“Come. I’m sure Ingrid will join us soon, let’s go sit. The Emperor sends her regards to you both.” Edelgard swallowed numbly, and followed to an empty table. Clearly Byleth had been expecting her. She suddenly wished for the familiarity of Jedi robes. They might signal to the whole planet that she was a fugitive from Darth Serios, but they would have hidden her shaking hands far better than a smuggler’s outfit she’d stolen two days ago.

“So, my padawan. Do tell me, how goes your exile? We were all so devastated when you left the temple, you know? Edelgard Hresvelg, one of the Jedi Order’s most brilliant Knights, stealing away in the night. Why, it broke my heart.” Byleth’s smiles had been agonisingly rare when they were both younger, and now they were as common as her breaths, and twisted beyond recognition. She had been in love with Byleth for fifteen years of her life, since she was a padawan, and a near decade of exile had done nothing to ease that. Even hidden under layers of hate, and darkness, and the physical sensation of the twirling depth of the allure of power, she was Byleth. Edelgard’s master. 

“Why are you here, Master?”

“Edelgard, I asked you a question first. Did I not teach you good manners?”

“Good manners would be not slaughtering innocents, Master.”

Byleth laughed, and the sound was foreign on Edelgard’s ears. Her master had not been a laughing woman, not once in her life, and the sound was nothing like she expected. It was a harsh, barking noise, and Edelgard felt a brief rush of anger ran threw her body at it. 

She calmed her mind, the code running through her mind as she tried to restrain her anger, and emotion yet peace, emotion yet peace, emotion yet peace, emotionyetpeace, emotionyetpeace, emotionyetpeace, emotionyetpeace, emotionyet-

“Edelgard, please. Answer me, my Padawan. Is it so hard to be polite? It will benefit you, the both of you, when Ingrid finally joins us.”

Edelgard steeled her jaw, looked her Master straight in the eyes, and kept her voice as level as she could humanly manage.

“I have been well. The Outer Rim is peaceful.”

“Is not the whole point of the Outer Rim that it’s so far from the Core that criminals run wild?”

“Yes. That’s why it’s peaceful.”

Byleth laughed once more, and waved her hand, the waitress nearby, who came over to them as if in a trance. Byleth smiled, as menacing as it was charming, and ordered them both a Corellian Whisky. At least she remembered Edelgard’s taste in booze. She waved the waitress off, before hurriedly waving her back. “Oh, our friend is about to join us. Blonde hair, stern looking. Could you go and bring her over.” 

The waitress smiled, and brought over a tired, anxiety filled Ingrid, who’d aged a day and fifty years all at once. She smiled tightly when she saw Edelgard, but her bright green eyes filled with fury as Byleth turned to meet her eyes. Her hand flew to her lightsaber, which Byleth had already pulled from her belt. It was almost funny to see her incensed face as she saw her weapon on the table. It would have been funny, were it not for the delight in Byleth’s eyes.

“Ingrid, so good to see you! We’re having a little reunion, why don’t you join us.” 

If Edelgard’s adherence to the living force had calmed her in the years, Ingrid’s strict following of the Jedi Code had only furthered her rage. There was dark, and there was light, and there was barely anything inbetween. Edelgard was lucky the two of them had been friends as long as they could breathe, insofar as Ingrid understood she wasn’t tempted by the Dark Side. But she felt rage eminate from Ingrid, and her voice felt as if it wasn’t her own.

“Ingrid. Sit. Please.” 

Byleth laughed, and the sound shocked Ingrid, visibly so. But she did as Edelgard asked, raging fury being directed towards Byleth, and took her lightsaber back with fury in her eyes. 

“Edelgard, I don’t know how the kark you can sit and look at her and do nothing.”

“The inquisitors are here, Ingrid. Believe me, if I had my way, she’d already be dead.”

“Oh, my! The two of you have gotten so angry, haven’t you? Master Rhea would be delighted to see this, you know?”

“Be quiet, Darth Sothis. You slaughtered my friends. I saw the holovid.” Ingrid said, and her voice was angrier than Edelgard had ever heard it. Edelgard placed her hand on Ingrid’s shoulder, and squeezed. 

“Ingrid. Wasn’t it always you telling me not to be rash. Please be calm.”

“Fine. But I’m not working with her.”

“Girls, please. Don’t fight, and don’t worry. I’m just here to offer the pair of you a deal. I was merely enjoying a visit back to the old Jedi Temple, when I felt two extremely powerful force signatures inbound. Master Rhea would love a few new hands, you know? The inquisitors always need more people, to hunt down the few remaining Jedi in the galaxy, and I would love to keep you alive. You were both so talented, it would be a crime to kill you. The Dark Side brings peace, surely you both understand that?”

There was no levity in her voice, now, and her flaming eyes were harsh. She was almost like the Master Edelgard remembered from her youth. Harsh and stern, with little time for levity. It somehow hurt more than the footage she’d seen of her slaughtering padawans, duelling her friends.

“Master, you know I could never join you. There is nothing that calls me to the Dark Side, and it would bring me none of the peace you claim. I’m not sure why you’re even asking Ingrid.” Ingrid scowled, but said nothing. Her mouth was moving, and Edelgard could tell she was reciting the code under her breath.

“It was worth a try, though, was it not.” Byleth smiled, without mirth. “I really don’t want to kill you. But I need to. I’ll at least give you the dignity of a death somewhere away from here, not in this dingy bar. The Underground is so depressing, is it not?”

Ingrid scoffed, and her hand moved slowly towards the hilt of her lightsaber. Slowly enough, that even Byleth didn’t spot it. 

“If not here, where?” Edelgard said, restraining as much of her anger as she humanly could. She couldn’t kill a Sith Lord surrounded by inquisitors, even with a Jedi by her side.

“I thought it might be fun to head back to the Jedi Temple, you know? Nobody goes there. It’s haunted, you know?”

Ingrid growled, and Edelgard put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. For a Jedi, she was being particularly shit at keeping her emotions under control. 

“Why do you think you’ll be able to kill us, Sothis.” Ingrid growled, and Edelgard could feel her fury through the Force itself. “You’ve been trying to kill me for years, and haven’t managed yet.”

“Oh, Ingrid. Padawan Galatea. Glenn thought the same, you know. That nobody could match him, and nobody could kill him. I killed him.”

It was through some kind of miracle that Ingrid didn’t ignite her blade, Edelgard thought. And then she looked a little harder, and felt the sheer power of Byleth’s power, keeping Ingrid perfectly still. 

“I didn’t mind insolence when I was your Master, El. But I’m afraid you’re no longer a Padawan, and you can either come with me to the Temple, or I can take you there myself.”

“What’s the point in even taking us there. Wouldn’t it be easier to kill us now?” 

“Oh, undoubtedly. It’s not about ease. It’s about sending a message. The Jedi are dead, and gone, and the more of you I kill, the more stable Master Rhea’s rule becomes. Killing the two of you in the remains of the Jedi Temple? It’s proof of the supremacy of the Sith.”

Ingrid glared through her frozen eyes, and Edelgard nodded silently. Byleth smiled wide, and Ingrid regained movement, and now she was glaring daggers at Edelgard. With great reluctance, the pair of them followed Byleth, suddenly finding their hands unmoving. Byleth’s power was strong. It had always been strong, and now, with Serios’ power flowing through her body, it was even stronger.

* * *

“You still owe me from that time on Pollillus, Edelgard. And you owe me even more now.”

“Fine. You can cash that in once we’ve gotten ourselves free from Byleth.”

“In case you didn’t notice, my friend, that’s going to be hard. We’re two Jedi, standing unarmed against Darth Sothis, right hand of the Emperor! Do you expect we’re going to free ourselves now, or after she’s taken our heads from our body.”

“No. Actually, I was thinking a repeat of Bastatha.”

“Absolutely not. We got out of that through sheer luck, and through Master Catherine’s help.”

“Exactly. We were padawans then, and we managed to get out of it. Who needs Master Catherine?”

“Bastatha was smugglers and crime lords. This is a Sith Lord. And the Inquisitors.”

“And what of it?”

“We’re about to fight a Sith Lord and you think we’ll survive unarmed. How.”

“Call it intuition, my friend. The Living Force knows all.”

“I hate you, did you know that?”

“What happened to ‘there is no emotion,’ Master Galatea?”

“I’ve been on the run from these kriffing Inquisitors for the last four years. I can’t remember the last time I spent the night in a real bed. The Rebel Alliance is impossible to contact, not that I’d risk myself or them in contacting them. And we still need to go rescue Ashe from the damn Hutts.”

“Once we get out of here, we can go board my shitty little smuggler’s ship, and we can go and find Ashe.”

“If.”

“Bastatha, Master Galatea. Bastatha.”

Ingrid sat silently, ignoring the rattling of the transporter Byleth had acquired, and she was clearly meditating, as was her habit in times of anxiety. And frustration. She recognised that face from when Dimitri and Felix had gotten in trouble in the library again. Meditation was common amongst the padawans, but Ingrid meditated more than anyone else. Perhaps that was why her connection to the force was so strong, why Edelgard could sense it, even stronger than the overwhelming prescence of her former master. Yet she couldn’t take comfort in it, she could only take comfort in her own meditation. The Force flowed through them all, and even if she did die here today, she would not die. 

And the transport rattled to a halt, and suddenly Edelgard was struck with the death and destruction that had gone on here, a decade ago. Hundreds had died here, and she had been meditating on I'vorcia Prime. The death was tantalising here. Children, masters, all of them innocent. It sickened her. 

They sat there, in silence, the pair of them still meditating, at one with the Force, waiting for Byleth, her master, their friend. She was taunting the pair of them, she knew it, and the longer they waited, the more uncomfortable they became. 

And then, finally. The shuttle’s doors opened and two of the inquisitors stood before them. They were tall, clad head to toe in black, and their red sabers shone in the darkness of Coruscant's night and rain. Edelgard itched for her saber, tried to feel for it in the force, but came up empty. Damned Byleth.

“General Sothis needs the two of you. Stand up, now.” The first commanded, their voice harsh and cruel. Edelgard stood, and nudged Ingrid with her foot. She didn’t stir, and the second walked over to her, forced her to her feet.

“General Sothis demands your prescene. Both of you.”

They followed, despite the fact Edelgard couldn’t even tell if Ingrid was done with her meditation, or was merely following the signature she knew to be Edelgard’s. They walked, and for the first time, Edelgard took in the devastation of the Jedi Temple. This place had been her home, she had spent her whole childhood here. She had trained with her friends here, had practised her katas with Ingrid, and it was nothing, now. A husk of her childhood home.

“It’s good to be home, isn’t it. I always loved the temple. Of course, it served its use. Now, it stands as a symbol to those who defy the Sith. We are stronger, we will win. Do not doubt it. Now, the pair of you, I thought I’d at least give you the chance to defend yourselves. Not with your sabers, of course, those are mine. A keepsake. I’m still a little sentimental.”

A blaster was forced into her hands, and she almost laughed. Byleth was cruel, and she was powerful. At least she knew how to be accurate, she couldn’t remember the last time Ingrid hit a shot with a blaster. As Edelgard looked over, her friend certainly looked like she had no clue where to even point the blaster. 

“The two of you. You have both defied the Sith Order, and you will pay for that. I have offered you peace and serenity through the Dark Side. You have defied me, and Master Rhea, Darth Serios herself.”

Byleth ignited her blade, and began to advance towards the pair of them, rage in her eyes. It still unsettled Edelgard, to see her Master so full of emotion, so full of rage especially. The blaster was unfamiliar, and she fired towards Byleth, dodging the first savage strike, and feeling the second barely miss her. 

Ingrid was somewhere, who knew where, and Byleth was charging towards her with a lightsaber. She was an offensive fighter, and nobody was more familiar with that than her master, the person who’d duelled with her daily for three years. Her styles and techniques had changed, how could they not change, but she was still Edelgard Hresvelg, and Byleth was still her Master. She was still utterly in love with this woman, and had never once been able to defeat her in a straight duel. Ingrid was of no help, she was once again meditating, Edelgard thought, otherwise she was an even worse warrior than Edelgard had guessed. Either was possible, and if they survived this, she was going to kill Ingrid herself. Not that she'd need to. Byleth was about to kill them both. 

She was good at dodging Byleth's strikes, but dodging could only get her so far. Byleth deflected every shot she fired, and she was growing more tired with every moment. Suddenly, she realised, as much as she was prepared to become one with the Force, she didn't want to die to the hands of a Sith Lord. Not even one she'd been in love with since she was a teenager. 

And then, oh, beautiful, wonderful, perfect Ingrid did the one thing Edelgard hadn't planned for. Edelgard slipped, the rain and the sheer stress of this whole situation making her lose her balance. Byleth grinned over her, raising her saber, and then. Ingrid intercepted her strike, the red blade of one of the inquisitors shining bright in her hand. Edelgard took a second to look around, and somehow in the sheer focus of her duel with Byleth, the inquisitors had been dealt with. And then Edelgard punched Byleth in the face, and Byleth collapsed to the ground as if forced to. Ingrid grinned at her, and for a second they felt like padawans once more.

"Grab your saber, Edelgard. We need to get off this planet and as far away from the Sith as we can."

Edelgard laughed, and took Ingrid's outstretched hand. She stood, and took their lightsabers from Byleth's prone body, handing Ingrid back hers, and igniting hers. 

"Look at that. Far better than Bastatha."

"You owe me so much, Edelgard.  
Can we please get off world. There's only so much I can do, you know, and these inquisitors might be getting up soon."

* * *

Her ship was a good one. Unlike some of those she'd stolen, the hyperdrive actually worked, which was a pleasant change from the last three ships she'd stolen. But it was probably safer to take at least some of the more conventional smuggling routes to get to Tatooine. And selfishly, she supposed, it gave her a little more time to talk to her friend. 

"So. Ashe and the Hutts. How did that happen?"

"I'm trying to meditate, Edelgard."

"I know. But you've been meditating for four hours. And I can feel myself going mad. Even I can't meditate for four hours, Ingrid."

"Fine." She said, and straightened up her robes. She looked tired, and ethereal in the dim glow of the ship. "Ashe and I have been travelling together for six months. We ran into each other with some refugees on a shuttle in the Outer Rim. It landed on Tatooine, he got taken by the Hutts. I'm not risking going in there alone, and you were the first coded signal I recognised."

"How come you were on Coruscant, then?"

"Even longer story. I'm just glad I found you." 

She looked tired, and suddenly the weight of all she'd suffered hit Edelgard. 

"When the Order came, how did you escape?"

Ingrid sighed, and pulled in a breath through gritted teeth. 

"We were off world. A bunch of us. It was Mercedes' idea, just the Lions coming together for a night. We had no idea what happened until we got back on the ship and received the coded transmission. Then we split up. I have no idea who's still alive."

"Me neither."

"Well. I'm alive. Ashe is alive. I think. Let's start there. Perhaps we can find the Rebel Alliance."

"Aren't you supposed to avoid the council of the Grey Jedi?"

"I don't think it matters. If I'm one of the few living Jedi masters, am I not allowed to do what's necessary to continue the survival of our order?"

"War's changed you, old friend."

"I haven't been at war. I've been fleeing. War is for soldiers, not for those of us trying to stay one step ahead of the Empire."

"All the same."

"I know. I know." Ingrid smiled, and stood, taking in the full size of Edelgard's rather comfortable cruiser. "Before we make our next hyperspace jump, how about a duel. You can show me what you've learned."

"You're on, Master Galatea."

"Just you watch, Master Hresvelg."

"You're granting me Masterhood?"

"You've been one for years. Now come on. Let's go fight."

"I wish I was back on Bastatha. You'd shit yourself knowing this is who you turned into." Edelgard laughed, and followed Ingrid out of the room. Perhaps there was hope. She could dream.

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re at all interested in the dates, this takes place around 10 BBY, 9 years after Revenge of the Sith. 
> 
> Kark and Kriff are both real, canon Star Wars swear words, and they are both listed on wookieepedia 
> 
> Pollillius, a canon planet in the Core Worlds. If you remember the podracing scene in episode 1, the two headed announcer guy is from Pollillus. He’s a Troig.
> 
> Bastatha, also a canon planet, this time in the Inner Rim. In the canon, it was a hotbed for organised crime, especially following the fall of the Galactic Empire, but why not have it before.
> 
> Ingrid’s preferred form of combat is that of Form V, specialising in the Djem So form, notable for essentially being an extremely solid, unmoving form, aimed largely towards lightsaber to lightsaber combat, with the practitioner on the offensive. She also utilises Form III, Soretsu, which was designed for use in combat with blasters. Whilst Ingrid’s a pegasus knight in canon, known for her speed, her personality is much more suited to the unmoving nature of Djem So.
> 
> Edelgard’s preferred form of combat is Form IV, Ataru, which prioritised fast, aggressive single combat, generally against another lightsaber user. Like Ingrid, she also relies on Soretsu during combat with those who utilised blasters. Edelgard tended towards Ataru due to the fast, aggressive nature of it, and whilst it may not suit an axe wielder, it suits her personality and beliefs, especially when wielding a lightsaber.
> 
> Byleth leans towards the old fashioned, traditional version of Form VII, Juyo, which was banned amongst Jedi as it was believed it was so aggressive and ferocious, its use would inevitably lead to the user falling to the Dark Side. Like Byleth, this form is unpredictable, and extremely powerful.


End file.
